When a bride in Austria jokingly answered "no" instead of "yes" when asked if she wanted to marry her husband-to-be, the official performing the civil wedding promptly broke off the ceremony.

An Austrian couple have had their marriage postponed for 10 weeks because the bride said "no" as a joke when the registrar asked during the civil ceremony whether she would take this man to be her husband, a newspaper reported.

Despite the entreaties of the bride, who said immediately she had just meant it in jest, the officiating registrar at once broke off the heavily attended ceremony in the town of Steyr, said the newspaper Oberoesterreichische Nachrichten.

Austrian regulations stipulate that there must be a postponement of at least 10 weeks should one of the parties respond in the negative when asked during the ceremony whether he or she consents to the union.

The newspaper explained that this was to ensure that a non-consenting party did not withdraw the reply "no" and consent to the union under pressure from his or her family, the newspaper explained.